A janitor working at the Forest Park Walmart was caught stealing more than $1,000 worth of store merchandise throughout August.
The security cameras captured the 64-year-old Chicago man taking items on Aug. 10, Aug. 13, Aug. 18 and Aug. 20, shoving them into garbage bins he usually used to remove trash, taking the bins out into the parking lot and loading the stolen goods into his car.
Two Walmart employees confronted the janitor about the thefts on Aug. 28 at 11:43 p.m. He denied stealing anything, saying that he was simply taking out the trash. According to the employees, he “grew angry” during the questioning and fled the store.
When the police officers confronted the man in the parking lot, he said that he was accused of theft. He insisted that he was innocent and was simply taking out the trash.
The officers reviewed the security footage and, after confirming that it showed the man stealing the merchandise, arrested him. He was charged with one count of theft.
Man steals tequila
A man reportedly walked out of Famous Liquors store with several tequila bottles on the evening of Aug. 30.
According to the employee, a man walked into the store at around 6:45 p.m., picked up a basket, went into a tequila aisle, grabbed several bottles and walked out the store without paying for them. The employee said that she saw the man get into his car, a black 2015 Mitsubishi Sedan.
The employee said that she had no idea how much the bottles were worth. While she took the picture of the Mitsubishi, she didn’t know how to access the security camera footage, so the police officers weren’t able to view the incident at the time of the report.
Stolen vehicle recovered
Forest Park police recovered a stolen black 2018 Infiniti sedan after a license plate camera flagged it as it was exiting Eisenhower Expressway onto Harlem Avenue.
The car was flagged on Aug. 28 at 9:03 p.m. A Forest Park police officer on routine patrol spotted the car matching the Infiniti’s description enter Thorton’s gas station. He requested additional units as back up and confirmed that it was indeed the stolen car.
Inside the Infiniti were the driver, a 29-year-old Chicago man, and two passengers, a 22-year-old Chicago man and a 26-year-old Chicago man. When the police surrounded the car, all three surrendered without incident.
According to the report, the driver said that he wore latex gloves because he didn’t want his DNA to end up in the stolen car. The 26-year-old passenger insisted that he didn’t know the car was stolen.
The 22-year-old passenger, who said he was friends with the other two men, said that the two men picked him up from his home. He said he suspected that the car was stolen because he knew that neither of them could afford such a car. He also admitted that the pill the officers found while searching him was ecstasy.
The driver and the 26-year-old passenger were changed with one count of motor vehicle theft each. The 22-year-old passenger was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Battery charger stolen
The driver of a bronze 2009 Cadillac Escalade truck discovered Aug. 29 at 11:20 a.m. that someone broke into his vehicle overnight.
The victim parked the truck in the alley at the 7200 block of Jackson Boulevard. The burglar broke the truck’s rear window and stole a combination car battery charger and an air compressor machine stored in the back.
When the victim opened the front passenger door, a brick fell on the ground. The brick was not where before, and the victim believes that the burglar used it to break the window
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, Aug. 28-31, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.
Compiled by Igor Studenkov
